Having spent many years commuting from Hampton Hill to Soho, I can certainly empathise with the recent high-profile accidents.

I used to cycle the 13 miles all year round and in all weather and I loved it - it made me feel alive.

It also meant I could eat whatever I liked and I was as fit as a fiddle; but it was something that I didn't undertake lightly.

When I started cycling in an age before cycle priority lanes and Boris bikes, cycles were pretty scarce on the roads - unlike the peletons you see huddled at traffic lights in London today.

You would have to keep your wits about you and ride very defensively. My wife would often breathe a sigh of relief if I made it home without incident.

My rules of survival were:

1. No filtering up the inside of stationary traffic (outside only).

2. Own the road - take up a space like a car and not ride the gutter.

3. Never go through red lights.

4. Be as bright and obvious as possible.

Even following the rules above I still had a few scrapes and crashes as well as countless near-misses.

The response I would always get after a near miss or a crash would be "sorry mate, I didn't see you".

I'm just shy of 6ft 4in and would be covered head to toe in some very brightly coloured lycra with countless lights on a bright yellow bike so the "I didn't see you" comments were frankly laughable.

The near misses were often due to the fact that people were in a rush so would therefore just pull out, not give you the space required or just cut you up.

The car you see is more important than the bike in the eyes of the driver, and segregating traffic by using bike lanes etc actually exacerbates this and gives drivers less exposure to cyclists.

One of my worst incidents involved riding up Kensington Church Street where a bus attempted to overtake me on a corner, misjudged it and forced me off the road.

It clipped my thigh and damaged both wheels (which were crushed on the kerb). Guess the phrase that came out of the driver’s mouth? "Sorry mate, I didn't see you."

Conversely I found professional drivers such as cabbies and even white van men pretty good on the whole.

I think by following the laws of the road, respecting other road users and cycling defensively you can protect yourself as much as possible, but the autonomy that cycling gives you is actually one of the biggest dangers.

It only takes someone in a real rush "not to see you" and it is game over.

And there would be nothing you could do about it.

:: Christian works in technology and is a social media pundit for TV shows such as the National Lottery and Big Brother.